Traditionally, a form processing program has existed, which overlays each data item described in a field data file onto a predetermined field in a form to create a form. In order to expand such a form processing program to allow handling of file-type data such as a bitmap file, the applicants consider to specify an external file (a file which can be specified with a pathname indicating a target location described in the field data file, among files stored in a local drive or a network drive) by describing, in a field data file, the pathname indicating a target location to which the bitmap file is stored. For example, description such as IMAGE1=c:¥data¥image.bmp is provided in the field data file.
In the above described method, however, it is necessary that a field data file and external files, which are file-type data, described therein are on a local drive of a computer on which a form processing program is operating or a network drive accessible to the computer (hereinafter collectively referred to as a local drive), and accordingly, it is impossible to handle files located on an Internet/intranet server such as a Web server increasing in number nowadays.